A place of retreat for this mother of seven (currently fighting Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer) to speak on the joys and challenges of life for a Catholic family immersed in American culture.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Six Kids is Nothin'

Lindsey, Sam and I watched TLC's "16 Kids and Moving In" tonight with our mouths hanging open. This family is absolutely fascinating.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have 17 children. I liked Michelle immediately when the program opened with her quote, "Saying there are too many children is like saying there are too many flowers." While I can't honestly say I'm sorry that it is a biological impossibility for me to approach numbers like this, I can definitely understand why having this many children would be a joy for someone.

This woman is amazing. She not only home schools the children, but has developed an organization system that makes it all look easy. The show we watched chronicles how the family built a 7000 square foot house to accommodate themselves nearly all on their own, with virtually no experience. Every kid down to age 8 had his or her own drill and knew how to operate it!

The house is an inspiration: 8 commercial washers and dryers, two kitchens (one totally commercial with a buffet-style tray slide!) and a tube slide from the boys' bedroom to the playroom. The communal family closet, located right next to the laundromat, has my wheels turning, for sure! Lindsey could not get past the 50 shelf pantry, which not only is bigger than our bedrooms, but also has a garage-style roll up door for easy delivery and unloading of the groceries, straight from the family bus.

I was very sad, during a search for more information on the Duggers, to read some of the comments people have put up about this beautiful family. There are some nasty, hateful, intolerant people out there! Certainly 17 children is not for everyone. But to see a family like this one, working in harmony, devoting themselves to God and each other, is a wonderful thing in my book. I'm quite certain each member of the Dugger family experiences a kind of happiness and peace that members of the "Stop Breeding" crowd will, sadly, never understand.

7 comments:

I read about their central laundry system a while ago, and it makes so much sense. If we were building a house, we would definitely modify a traditional laundry room to accomodate that sort of method.

But I too am glad that the only way to have that many kids is through adoption. I enjoy my big family, and I'll take them one at a time as God gives them. But I can't say that I'm overwhelmed with grief at my aging fertility.

And yes, the hate and malice towards this family from strangers is shocking. They are doing nothing to anyone else...just loving their family and raising decent citizens, and they are despised. Amazing.

Michelle, You and the public have no ideal on how this family operates. They have many many secrets that they sure don't want the public to hear about. They are frauds. This is the way that they can afford what they have. They have the public fooled. The oldest son has molested his sisters in the past. Did they get him help or get the girls help? No they did not. They tried to hide it, but the truth finally came out. The boy is still in the house and the girls are finally getting the help they need. They appear in all these talk shows and magazines just for the money involved. Jim Bob has admitted himself that this is the way he supports his family. A hand out, free and clear. Before you start giving them the glory that they want, you should check out the Arkansas State Police Child Protection Agency and the Washngton County Child Protection Agency before you put give them a Throne and a Crown.

Extensive searching has left me unable to substantiate anything claimed by the anonymous commentor above.

Rather, I have found this identical comment in nearly every thread written on the family and wonder why one person seems so anxious to tear this family down.

I have no problem with the family earning money from their unique circumstance and am sure they believe the media attention is probably a good way for them to share their philosophies with others. I do not believe for one second that they had this many children to get rich (and if they did, it couldn't possibly be worth it for that alone).

As for the alleged molestation, I found nothing at all to support this claim. Nothing. I choose to believe the best unless faced with irrefutable evidence to the contrary.

Suzanne, believe what you want. I know the truth. Do you live in the same town as the Duggar's? People in their town are tired of them and them wanting hand outs. Why don't you contact the right people and you will find out the truth.

I think they are awesome! I don't "want" 17, but I am open to whatever the Lord gives us. But you would be surprised what some other people say, people who aren't even against having children! I heard a few people who were ticked that Michelle said she quits breast feeding at 6 months so she CAN get pregnant again. They think this is not trusting the Lord and are having fits about that. There really isn't anything that a person can do that will make people happy, even people who agree with you. (I have not seen or heard ANYTHING to suggest Michelle actually quits bfing in order to get pregnant again)